Europe bows to Nazis again with Iran deal, says Netanyahu

Israel’s prime minister responded to the E.U.’s efforts to salvage the Iran nuclear deal by comparing it to “European appeasement” of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

By World Israel News and AP

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared European attempts to resuscitate the Iran nuclear deal to European appeasement of the genocidal Nazi regime during World War II.

Netanyahu’s criticism arrived as as European leaders call on Iran to stick to the 2015 nuclear deal despite the pullout by the United States and its re-imposition of crippling economic sanctions.

Netanyahu charges that some leaders “won’t wake up until Iranian nuclear missiles fall on Europe.”

The prime minister has been an outspoken critic of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, pointing to evidence that Iran has tried to develop nuclear weapons in the past and will continue to do so.

Netanyahu says Israel will do “whatever it takes” to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

French President Emmanuel Macron commented on Monday during a visit to Serbia that new diplomatic momentum in recent weeks has stopped “overreaction by Iranians” and allowed for “a constant dialogue with the Americans.”

European nations, with France in the lead, are trying to deescalate tensions in the Persian Gulf area and save the 2015 nuclear between Iran and world powers. The United States unilaterally pulled out of the deal last year and Tehran has responded by increasing its uranium enrichment, surpassing limits set by the deal.

Macron said he’d speak with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani after returning to Paris on Tuesday, and also with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump.

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt says that even if the window to find a diplomatic solution to the standoff over the Iran nuclear deal is quickly closing, he still holds out some hope that the agreement can be salvaged.

Hunt said ahead of a regular meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday that Iran would still be “a good year away” from developing a nuclear weapon, allowing for more time to make sure the nuclear deal can be preserved.

Hunt says the deal “isn’t dead yet and we are totally committed” to keeping the region denuclearized.

Meanwhile, France’s foreign ministry says that a researcher with dual French-Iranian nationality has been arrested in Iran.

A ministry statement on Monday said France is seeking information about Fariba Adelkhah and consular access to her “without delay.”

It said that there has been “no satisfactory response to its demands as of today.”

The statement said the ministry was recently informed about Adelkhah’s disappearance and wants information on the “situation and conditions” of her arrest.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted government spokesman Ali Rabiei on Sunday acknowledging a dual national had been arrested, without elaborating.

Adelkhah is best known for her book “Being Modern in Iran,” about changes in Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

European UnionIran nuclear dealNazisNetanyahu